Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Dragonfly, butterfly and ladybug triptych


I noticed the 6x604 thru 06 was not on my blog (my website is in need of a good revamp so in the meantime I am using my blog to show new things) so for those who are wondering what it looks like, here are the pictures. I have one part stitched and that one has a guide. You can use parts of the guide on the other two canvases.

Below the 3 canvases are another 3 that are fun. 6x601 is called Soho, 6x6 02 is Twin Beaks and 6x6 03 is Twin Beaks II. One of the Twin Beaks has pattern painted in it, the other lets you do your own thing.




6x6 04 Dragonfly and ladybug















6x6 05 Butterfly and 2 ladybugs



6x6 06 Pink Butterfly and Ladybugs

















6x6 01 is a fun canvas I named Soho. But it could be a great cityscape from Anytown US.


6x6 02 is called Twin Beaks. I had some fun with a few geometric shapes. Also painted it with some patterns painted in. See below.


6x6 03 Twin Beaks II with some pattern painted in.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

And did I ever say I love birds?

Birds! How beautiful they are. Some of you know I have a great parrot who I rescued a long time ago. Sam is in his 30's now and is a delight. I have always been fascinated by birds of all sorts. IN my design life I have painted quite a few birds. I will try to take new photos of them and post them to the blog.

I love antique prints. The old French ones are out of my budget ranch so I painted 3 beautiful birds in the style of the old French Prints. Now that I can afford, All I need to do is either stitch them or paint them on painters canvas. When I have time.

They are all on eggshell canvas, 18M and can be needlepointed with a single strand of floss in the direction of the feathers. Don't be scared by them. Less is best. They are painted in a very realistic style so to try to cover it up with a fancy stitch would simply kill the canvas. I also say, there is nothing more elegant than a perfectly tent stitched canvas. Maybe an ANG Princess Grace Award awaits one of these bird designs?

They come on large margin canvas cuts so you can have plenty of room to design a classy border. The margins are well over 2 inches.

OW08 Oriental Pheasant 9x12 on 18M Eggshell



OW09 Old World Parrot 8x12 on 18M Eggshell



OW10 Conure 5.5 x 9 on 18M Eggshell




And a fun little toucan I really want to stitch. Eventually I will do her mate, Toucan Cancan. This one is called Toucan Tutu.

CT46 Toucan Tutu 8x10 on 18M

A few pomegranates

I designed a few pomegranates back in the 90's. I have a great interest in Persian Carpets. I love the symbolism of the designs. These are pomegranates. No they do not look like the sort we buy in the grocery store, but it is what they called this sort of design. Each are the same size, 4.5 x 4.75 and are on 18M Perfect size for a 5x5 box or a great small framed piece or pillow insert.

Enjoy! I am considering doing more designs of this sort. Yes, paisley motifs were a big part of carpet design.

PF 13 Terracotta and Green Pomegranate  4.5 x 4.75 on 18M



PF14  Red and Purple Pomegranate 4.5 x 4.75 on 18M



PF15 Blue and Silver Pomegranate 4.5 x 4.75 on 18M


More new deisgns

I love triptychs. I have 3 new ones to show you.

It is hard to find 3 canvases in the same theme and in the same size that can be hung next to each other and tell a story. The first of the new ones is called Fly Lily Fly. Once I figure out how to show them side by side in my blog I will edit the post. But for now they will be shown one after the other because I have not figured out how to do it. They are 5x8 each and numbered CT47, CT48 and CT49. Notice how the borders match up. I can see these finished as a small table top screen.  Yes they can be purchased as singles and they can all stand alone without the other two should you fall in love with only one.

The left side is CT47.






















The Center panel is CT48 and again, it is 5x8 on 18M

And the Right side panel is CT49 5x8 on 18M
























The next triptych I designed is called the 11th Hour. I was inspired to do this by all the ecological damage currently being done in our world. The design represents animal life, sea life, water, land and sky. A few shop owners claimed it had an Egyptian look to it. I love birds and I think herons are spectacular creatures. This is why I chose a heron for the left side. As Fly Lily Fly, each section is on 18M and measures 5x8. They can all stand alone or together. I also called it the 11th hours since I designed it the night before I left for  the TNNA show. So it was my 11th hour design.

CT50 The 11th Hour Heron 5x8 on 18M


CT51 The 11th Hour Land Water Sky 5x8 on 18M


CT52 The 11th Hour 3 Fish 5x8 on 18M
























The last of the new triptychs is an addition to an older canvas I designed a few years ago. It is part of the 7x7 grouping so each piece is 7x7 and on 18M. It is also available without anything in the center so you can do your monogram.

BF06 Butterfly 7x7 on 18M

BF06B Bee 7x7 on 18M



BF06C Dragonfly 7x7 on 18M

Catching up to the Horses

Will I ever catch up? I certainly hope not. Life would be boring without projects looming in front of me.

Yes, I have some new designs. And I have been doing a bit of needlepoint. Recently I did a stitch guide for my horses behinds BH02. In June I taught it at TNNA to several shop owners. I decided to do a monochromatic background of sky, a brick wall and some grass all in the same color. I chose Silver Fox #002 from Gloriana. I love her threads and feel so confident in using them in my guides since her dye lots are normally pretty close in color. Blues will always be  the same blue.

The big star of the piece is the great reflective quality of Kreinik's new Holographic threads. All the metallic used are Holographic colors. The gold border was so much fun but, if I worked on it at night in artificial light, the reflectiveness of it made my head hurt. So, I did the borders during the day. I will be using the same background on the other horses and as a little treat, they will also be available as singles on a 6x10 canvas cut for eyeglass cases, a nice little pillow insert, a small framed piece or a stand up or even an ornament. The singles will be ready in August 2010.

Below is BH02 stitched. The guide is available now. The canvas is 8x10 on 18M.



BH01 Flower Girls 8x10 on 18M. I can see some ribbon stitching on this one!



And last but certianly not the end is BH03 HO! HO! HO! 8x10 on 18M. Bring on the beads!